New cancer paradigm needed

Man dies fighting for cancer treatment, July 12

Your story is, sadly, not uncommon and pleads for a need to change our current regulations and philosophy of cancer treatment. The rationale for denying an experimental drug to a terminally-ill patient as a last resort, based on concerns over safety, is nothing but a red herring.

The reality is that drugs with undetermined safety profiles are constantly being evaluated, in Phase I trials, often following limited safety data from animal studies with uncertain relevance to humans, and in off-label investigations for unapproved cancers.

People like Darcy Doherty, who have nothing to lose, and not the system, should decide whether the risk outweighs the possible benefit.